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JU JU'S 


CHRISTMAS PARTY 


BY 

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NORA PERRY 

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AUTHOR OF “A ROSEBUD GARDEN OF GIRLS,’’ “A FLOCK OF 
GIRLS AND BOY'S,” “iIOPE BENHAM,” ETC. 


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BOSTON 

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

V • 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Received 

AUG. 14 1901 



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Copyright, 1890, 

By Nora Perry. 

Copyright, 1901, 

By Little, Brown, and Company. 


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John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A, 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 

HE party is mine if it 
is on Christmas Eve, 
— my birthday-party. 
Mamma said so.” 
“Now, Ju.” 

“She did. She said, 

4 Y ou can have a party (a 
birthday-party) on the 24th, — Christmas Eve.’ ” 
“ A birth day -party. Yes, that’s just it, — 
a birthday -party, not your birthday-party.” 

“Well, I should like to know if the 24th of 
December isn’t my birthday? Were any of the 
rest of you born on the 24th of December, I 
should like to know?” 

“No; but that ’s nothing. Christmas Eve is 
Christmas Eve, — everybody’s holiday; and just 
because you happened to be born on that day, 
and Mamma said we might have a party — ” 

“/ might have a party.” 

“A birthday-party on that night,” persisted 
the other, “you want to claim the whole thing, 

l 



2 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


you Greedy. Now Mamma meant that as your 
birthday did come on the 24th, we might all 
celebrate it with you and for you in a birthday - 
party.” 

“ I never heard anything so perfectly ridicu- 
lous,” responded Julia, in a high, exasperated 
voice. “You know just as well as I do that 
what you say is n’t true; but you are the most 
aggravating boy, Clem Brown.” 

“What’s the row? What’s the Judge up 
to?” cried another of the Brown boys, coming 
forward from his corner at the end of the room, 
where he had been deep in the perusal of one of 
Jules Verne’s books. In a few excited words 
Julia spoke up in explanation. Then Clem 
presented his view of the case in that teasing, 
aggravating way of his. Jimmy Brown laughed 
at this presentation, — a laugh that Julia was 
about to resent hotly, when, — 

“Well, you’re the cheekiest fellow!” burst 
from Jimmy’s lips. In the next breath, how- 
ever, he turned to Julia with the words: “But 
what do you care anyhow whether he says it ’s 
your party or a party. That does n’t spoil the 
party, does it? ” 

“ Of course it does, or would, for Clem says 
as a party each of the children has as much 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


3 


right to say who shall be invited as I have. 
Fancy Clem’s chum, that horrid Bob Smith, 
among my guests ! ” 

“ 4 My guests ! ’ — hear her ! ” shouted Clement. 
“ Ju’s an out-and-out snob. All the people she 
cares for are swells. I know what she ’s up to. 
She ’s going to invite that English girl she ’s 
met at dancing-school, — that Betty Telephone, 
whose father was a lord, or the cousin of a 
lord, and she wants to muster a lot of swells to 
meet her.” 

Jimmy gave another little snickering laugh 
at this. Clem was so funny! But Julia cried 
out indignantly, — 

44 It is n’t funny; it ’s vulgar to make sport of 
people and twist their names like that. Betty 
Templeton is a lovely girl, and of course I ’m 
going to invite her.” 

“She doesn’t begin to be so nice as Bessy 
Pemberton.” 

44 Bessy Pemberton ! ” in a scornful tone. 

“Yes, Bessy Pemberton, Miss Ju; and, come 
now, do you mean that you ’re going to leave 
out Bessy?” 

44 Bessy Pemberton would n’t come if I should 
invite her. She never goes to parties — dress 
parties — like this. She does n’t have suitable 


4 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


things to wear. She as good as told Alice 
King so in the beginning of the winter.” 

Clement Brown jumped up from the little 
chair in which he had been lazily rocking, 
and cried out in real earnest disgust, “ Oh, I 
would n’t be a girl for anything. They do 
the meanest things, — things a boy would n’t 
think of doing. You ought to be ashamed 
of yourself, Ju, to slight a nice girl like 
Bessy Pemberton because she has n’t got a 
lot of money, and her mother has to keep 
school.” 

Keep school! ’ ” repeated Julia, sarcasti- 
cally, and growing cool as Clement grew hot. 
“Mrs. Pemberton is a governess, and goes out 
by the day. She goes to the Templetons to 
teach Betty and her younger sisters.” 

“And that ’s the reason you don’t want the 
Telephone to meet Bessy at your party! Oh, 
you make me tired! Mrs. Pemberton is the 
best kind of a lady.” 

“You don’t understand, Clem. The Pem- 
bertons are not in society. They are nice 
enough, but they can’t afford — ” 

“ ‘ Not in society, ’ ” mimicked Clem. “ What 
do you know about society, a girl of fifteen like 
you? It ’s regular poll-parrot talk.” 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


5 


“Adelaide says — ” began Julia. 

“Oh, bother what Adelaide says! Adelaide 
says too much. I ’m sick and tired of all this 
stuff. It was bad enough when we lived in 
Boston; but since we came to Washington to 
live, it ’s ten times as bad. The airs that Ade- 
laide puts on now, and that you copy, are just 
too much.” 

“ Adelaide is a young lady now, and because 
she does n’t have time to listen to you and to 
laugh at your jokes, you think she puts on airs. 
She was only fifteen when we left Boston ; she 
is seventeen now, and out in society.” As 
Julia concluded with this “out in society,” she 
gave a deep, envious sigh. 

“Yes, there you go with your silly talk about 
being 4 out. ’ I wish we were all in Boston, 
down on old Mount Vernon Street. We had 
some fun there! Here there isn’t room for 
anybody or anything but fuss and flummery of 
one kind or another.” 

“I should like to know what you mean by 
‘ fuss and flummery ’ ? ” asked Julia, with a 
little air of dignity that always exasperated 
Clem and made him rougher than ever. 

“You know well enough what I mean. I 
mean all this setting up to be fashionable; this 


6 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


party business all the time ; this running after 
big people.” 

44 4 Setting up to be fashionable ! ’ How you 
talk! What would Mamma say to hear you? 
I guess she ’d tell you that we don’t set up to 
be anything; and as to running after big peo- 
ple, we do nothing of the kind. The Browns, 
I ’m sure, are above that sort of thing. We 
have a very good position, for Papa is — ” 

“ Oh, I know what you ’re going to say. I 
heard you clipping it off to that little Wing 
girl the other day, — ‘ Papa is an eminent law- 
yer.’ You ’d better let somebody else say that, 
Ju, and Papa himself would tell you so. He 
hates brag; and Ju,” — with final emphasis, — 
“he hates snobs, too.” 

“Snobs? snobs? What are snobs? ” piped a 
childish voice here. 

Clem turned around with a 44 Hollo, Popsy! ” 

Popsy, a little maid of three, dropped her 
sister Adelaide’s hand, and ran to Clem with a 
“Take me up.” 

Clem took her up, and rather clumsily began 
to remove her hat and cloak, while Adelaide 
came forward, drawing off her gloves. Ade- 
laide was the eldest of the Brown family, — a 
tall girl, a young lady of seventeen, who called 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


7 


her brothers and sisters “the children.” As 
she came forward she said, — 

“What have you children been quarrelling 
about now? Whom were you calling snobs, 
Clem?” 

“Snobs? What are snobs?” piped Popsy; 
and catching the scowl on Clem’s brow, “ Some- 
sin’ narsy that make Clem and Popsy sick ? ” 

“ Yes, that ’s just what they are, — something 
very nasty, Popsy. They are nastier than 
measles.” 

Popsy had just recovered from the measles, 
and had a most vivid recollection of her dis- 
comfort. Sniffing up her little nose, she said 
emphatically, “Popsy, never, never have them” 

Clem and Jimmy were choking with laugh- 
ter, but Clem steadied his voice to say, “Ju-ju 
has got ’em bad, Popsy.” Popsy ’s eyes grew 
big. “Poor Ju-ju! ” she said, “get doctor for 
Ju-ju.” 

Julia’s face was red with anger, but without 
so much as a glance at those “horrid boys,” she 
crossed the room, and held out her hand to her 
little sister with the words, “Come, Popsy; 
come with me and see what I ’ve got for you 
upstairs.” 

Popsy looked at Julia’s flushed face, and a 


8 


JU-JU'S CIIRI STM A S PARTY 


sudden memory of a talk she had heard when 
she was ill of measles being “ catching ” flashed 
into her mind. As Julia approached nearer, 
she waved her back with a swift, significant 
gesture of two tiny palms, and a shrill, “Go 
’way? go ’way! narsy snobs! tatchin’; make 
Popsy sick! ” 

This was too much for the boys. They could 
control themselves no longer, and flinging their 
heads backward, fairly shrieked with laughter, 
in which little Popsy joined, in ignorant baby 
glee, crying at the same time, “Go ’way! go 
’way!” 

Julia, in high dudgeon, dashed out of the 
room, banging the door behind her, yet unable 
to shut in the uproarious merriment, in which 
even Adelaide’s — dignified Adelaide — silvery 
tones could be heard. But after the first ex- 
plosive burst, and the boys were beginning to 
catch their breath sufficiently to exchange com- 
ments with each other, Adelaide demanded a 
full explanation. 

What was it all about? And Clem told her, 
making a fair enough statement, spite of his 
different way of looking at things. Adelaide 
listened without interruption, but Clem knew 
that she was not on his side. And he was 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


9 


right, for when he had had his say, she unhesi- 
tatingly declared that he was not only unjust 
but absurd. 

“ Hum ! ” growled Clem ; “ I might have 
known you ’d back up Ju’s notions, and, of 
course, you don’t see anything unjust in slight- 
ing Bessy Pemberton, because she ’s poor and 
her mother ’s — a governess.” 

“Now, Clem,” interrupted Adelaide, “if 
Bessy has said that she does n’t go to parties 
because she has nothing suitable to wear, 
of course she means that she does n’t expect 
to be invited. Indeed, what would be the 
use?” 

“Oh! ” cried Clem, jumping up, “you ’re as 
bad as Ju, every bit. Come, Popsy,” — hoist- 
ing the child to his shoulder, — “we won’t go 
to any of their parties, will we ? ” 

“Yes; Popsy go to party. Popsy go to party 
and have nice sings.” 

“What! go to party with a lot of snobs? ” 

“No, no, no; narsy snobs not go. Popsy 
go, and Clemmy and Jimmy. Popsy have 
party all herself, — Popsy ’s own party, — and 
Clemmy and Jimmy and Bessy Pen’ ton come.” 

“ Hooray, Pops ! you ’re a brick and no mis- 
take ; ” and with an extra toss, which made 


10 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


Popsy scream with delight, Clem went pranc- 
ing out of the room with her. 

Tap, tap, tap, went Julia’s fingers on the 
door of a little room at the top of the house. 

“ Who is it ? What is wanting ? ” asked a 
voice within the room. 

“It’s Julia. Can’t you let me come in for 
one minute, Amy ? ” 

“Yes, but you must wait a second.” 

Julia waited one, two, three seconds with 
serene patience, knowing perfectly well that 
Amy was putting out of sight some Christmas 
mystery, — her own (Julia’s) special present 
very likely, which was in the process of manu- 
facture. One, two, three seconds, then “Now 
you may come in ” gave Julia the desired per- 
mission to enter. 

“I won’t stay a minute, Amy, but I wanted 
to know if you had written the invitations.” 

“Oh, Julia, that is just what I wanted to 
speak to you about. I couldn’t find the list 
you gave me.” Julia’s face fell. “I’m so 
sorry, Ju; but I’ll drop everything now, and 
take a new list if you ’ll call the names off, and 
then I ’ll write the notes and send them at once, 
so that there won’t be much delay.” 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


11 


Julia could have cried with vexation; but 
what could she say? How could she reproach 
or find fault with Amy, who was so kind and 
obliging always ? — Amy, who even now was 
making her something beautiful, she had n’t a 
doubt, for a Christmas present. She had asked 
Amy, too, as a special favor, to write these 
notes of invitation, for one reason, because of 
all the family Amy wrote the prettiest hand. 
Then Amy was not a very observing little per- 
son, — was “not meddlesome,” as Julia put it, 
— and therefore would not be likely to ask any 
troublesome questions in regard to those who 
were or were not invited. Julia herself, spite 
of being two years older than Amy, wrote 
detestably at the best of times; but just now 
she could scarcely make an intelligible letter, 
owing to the badly bruised forefinger of her 
right hand. Sitting there and calling off her 
list, and noting with what rapidity Amy wrote 
them down, the vexation began to disappear. 
After all, there would n’t be very much delay. 
Unobservant as Amy was, however, Julia did 
wonder a little if she would say anything, 
would make any comment at the name of Betty 
Templeton, and the omission of that of Bessy 
Pemberton. But Amy made no comment what- 


12 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


ever, and with a deep sigh of relief Julia betook 
herself from the little room, with a final assur- 
ance from Amy that the notes should be written 
and sent as soon as possible. This was on the 
afternoon of Thursday. On Friday morning 
early, Amy announced to Julia that the notes 
had gone. On Monday the answers began to 
arrive. By Tuesday they came in thick and 
fast, for Julia had invited very well brought up 
young people, who knew that party invitations 
should be answered promptly. By Wednesday 
morning everybody had sent an answer but one 
person, and that person was Betty Templeton. 
What could it mean? Did Betty intend to 
snub her for presuming to invite her? With 
an uneasy pang Julia recalled the real slight- 
ness of her acquaintance with Miss Templeton. 
She had met her at a private dancing class once 
a week for two months, and in that time the 
English girl had responded pleasantly enough 
to Julia’s lively advances; but Julia was obliged 
to admit to herself that she had not responded 
with a great deal of warmth. Julia had hitherto 
attributed this lack of warmth to “ the shy Eng- 
lish way ; ” but now in her secret soul she began 
to have a humiliating feeling that this “ English 
way ” might have covered something more than 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


13 


indifference. “ But how could she he so rude 
anyway as not to answer the invitation, even to 
decline it? ” 

“What’s the matter with Ju-ju?” asked 
Clem of his sister Amy that Wednesday 
morning. 

“Matter?” Amy looked up from her book, 
inquiringly. 

“Yes, matter. She ’s as glum and grum as 
she can be. Something ’s gone wrong, I ’ll 
bet.” 

Julia at that moment was watching for the 
postman on his second trip, her face close to 
the big window in the drawing-room down- 
stairs. When she saw him coming toward the 
house, she flew to the door. Yes, there was a 
note for her, — the note she was looking for, 
she had not a doubt; and flinging the rest of 
the mail upon the hall table, she then and there 
tore open the pretty square envelope, taking 
care even in her haste not to break the “ B ” 
that was so deftly stamped in the seal. 

But what — what — what did this mean ? 

“ Miss Bessy Pemberton accepts, with pleas- 
ure, Miss Julia Brown’s kind invitation.” 

After one moment — one dazed moment — of 
astonishment, stung with a horrible suspicion, 


14 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


Julia turned and sped swiftly up the stairs and 
toward the sitting-room, where she knew she 
should find her brother Clement; for this was 
Clem’s doings, she was perfectly certain. 

Clem was busy sorting over his collection of 
foreign stamps as she dashed into the room, 
flinging the door open so violently that the 
draught of air scattered a whole row of stamps. 

“Hollo! Lookout! What are you doing? ” 
he exclaimed. 

“What am I doing? You horrid boy, I ’ve 
found out what you * ve been doing,” and with 
an angry movement, Bessy Pemberton’s note 
was tossed into Clem’s lap. 

Clem read it, and then regarded Julia with 
profound amazement. What had he to do 
with Bessy Pemberton’s note? And as soon 
as he could catch his breath, he asked the 
question. 

“What have you to do with it, indeed! You 
need n’t play off innocence like this. You know 
perfectly well, Clem Brown, that you wrote the 
note of invitation to Bessy Pemberton, and sub- 
stituted it for that to Betty Templeton. You 
were determined that you would have your way. 
Oh, 1 know now why you were off so early Fri- 
day morning with the mail.” 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


15 


Clem started up, regardlessly scattering his 
cherished stamps in every direction. “I don’t 
wonder you think other people can do mean 
things,” he began in a high voice. “Anybody 
who can — ” 

“Hush, Clem! Wait! Listen tome, Julia. 
It was I who wrote the note to Bessy Pember- 
ton,” and Amy came forward, looking perplex- 
edly from brother to sister. 

“You, Amy?” ejaculated Julia, 

“Yes, I wrote Bessy Pemberton’s name on 
the list as you called it off.” 

“I didn’t call Bessy Pemberton’s name; but 
I did call Betty Templeton’s.” 

“Well, then, I misunderstood it for Bessy 
Pemberton. They sound so much alike, I sup- 
pose that is how I made the mistake; and 
of course I thought Bessy Pemberton would 
be invited, and I never thought of Betty 
Templeton.” 

Julia flushed redly. Amy had been shut up 
in her little room, out of the hot discussion 
that had taken place a few days ago, and it had 
not been repeated to her. In fact, the discus- 
sions and quarrels were not generally repeated 
to her, for Amy was too little quarrelsome her- 
self to have much sympathy with such discus- 


16 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


sions. There was something, too, about Amy 
that made it difficult for any of the family to 
show their worst side to her. She was not in 
the least a little prig, but there was about her a 
fine generous sort of nobility that took nobility 
in others for granted ; and it is hard to display 
ignoble instincts in such company. So now 
Julia flinched and flushed as her own petty 
little worldliness was revealed so suddenly to 
Amy. If Amy had missed Bessy at the party 
she could have explained the matter to her very 
satisfactorily; but now, convicted by her own 
angry words, and with Clem going on with his 
gibes and jeers, the whole matter was revealed 
in a most unsatisfactory light. 

If only Amy would gibe and jeer too, then 
she could have it out with her; but Amy said 
not a word, not even of comment. She only 
stood and looked at her sister for a second or 
two as if she could scarcely believe what she 
had heard; then, still silent, she left the room. 

Disappointed, defeated, and humiliated, Julia 
burst into tears. Clem hated tears, and gather- 
ing up his scattered treasures, without another 
word he betook himself to his own and Jimmy’s 
special sanctum at the top of the house, where, 
later, he regaled Jimmy with a lively account 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


17 


of how Julia had been outwitted in spite of 
herself. 

He was in the thick of this narrative when a 
voice outside called, “Jimmy! Jimmy!” It 
was Mamma’s voice. Nurse had a bad head- 
ache, and she wanted Jimmy to take Popsy for 
a walk. Clem at once offered to join this expe- 
dition, but Mamma shook her head. The boys 
were twins, fourteen years old ; but the J udge, 
as they called Clem, because of his argumenta- 
tive qualities, was not a particle like easy little 
Jimmy. Clem was always up to some uproar- 
ious fun, and therefore not always to be trusted 
on sober expeditions. Jimmy was to be trusted 
always — without Clem. 

Down the beautiful broad avenue went Popsy, 
clinging to Jimmy’s hand, and chatting to him 
in the most sociable manner. All at once 
Jimmy was astonished by the little fingers sud- 
denly dropping from his, and the shrill voice 
calling out loudly, “Ju-ju! Ju-ju!” He looked 
up. Yes, sure enough, there was Ju-ju ahead 
of them. He tried to catch, to stop Popsy, 
who had started on a run, calling at the top of 
her voice, “Ju-ju! Ju-ju!” But Ju-ju had 
heard, and turned. She had come out to be 
away from everybody in the house, she was so 
2 


18 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


unhappy, so full of disappointment and vexa- 
tion ; but who could resist that little outstretched 
palm, and the sweet, smiling invitation, “Ju-ju, 
come a walk with Jimmy and Popsy.” 

Popsy had forgotten by this time the “ narsy 
snobs ” that were “tatchin’,” and hand in hand 
with her brother and sister she trotted happily 
along between them, more sociable than ever. 
But poor Julia’s ears were closed to all this 
sociability. She could think of nothing but 
her disappointment and defeat. Even the little 
sharp smart of shame that had stung her in 
Amy’s presence had for the moment disap- 
peared. To have Betty Templeton at her party 
had been a pet plan for weeks. Now it was 
not only that she must be disappointed in that, 
for even Adelaide had told her that it was too 
late to think of sending an invitation at that 
time to one she knew so little, but she must 
bear all the mortification of the defeat of her 
plans, which she knew that Clem at least would 
be chuckling in triumph over. 

“No, you mustn’t think of sending an invi- 
tation now,” Adelaide had charged her. “You 
could n’t explain the matter anyway in a note 
of invitation to one who is almost a stranger.” 

Julia was thinking of all this as Popsy 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


19 


prattled, and was saying to herself, “If only 
there was some way ” — when, just as they 
turned the corner of the avenue, whom should 
she meet face to face but — Betty Templeton ! 
Oh, here was a way surely ! She could and she 
would say what she mustn’t write, and stopping 
short, she began eagerly, — 

“ Oh, Miss Templeton, there has been such a 
mistake about an invitation that should have 
been sent to you for my birthday-party. I 
have only just found it out, and I thought it 
was too late — that I couldn’t write an ex- 
planation; but if you would come now. My 
sister, who wrote the invitations for me, mis- 
understood. As I called the list off, she mis- 
took your name — ” 

“O — h!” suddenly roared Popsy, as her 
little feet slipped up on the icy sidewalk, and 
she fell forward out of Jimmy’s loose hold, flat 
on her little button nose. It took a minute or 
two to set the child on her feet and to comfort 
her. When this was done, Julia started to 
take up her thread of explanation; but what 
was this that Miss Templeton was saying, and 
in a cordial way that Julia had never found in 
her before ? 

Yes, she had heard about the party. Bessy 


20 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


Pemberton had told her; and they were all so 
glad that Bessy had concluded to go. Bessy 
was so foolish at first, and said she had nothing 
to wear; but that was all nonsense, for, as she 
— Betty — had told her, “ her pretty gray cash- 
mere was quite nice enough to wear.” 

Julia was speechless with surprise at this 
revelation of intimacy with Bessy Pemberton. 
But she was destined to still further surprise. 
Betty had turned and joined them in their 
walk. “The shy English manner” had entirely 
disappeared, and she was talking freely, like 
any other girl of fourteen, — indeed, with an 
outright simple frankness that English people, 
when they once get started, are much more 
capable of than Americans. 

W ould she come to the party now ? She cer- 
tainly would if her mother would permit her; 
and she thought very likely she might, if Bessy 
went. “ Mamma thinks so much of Bessy, and 
so do I. To tell the truth,” she went on, 
laughing and coloring and stammering, as she 
had a habit of doing, “I — I haven’t felt at 
home with any of the American girls here ex- 
cept Bessy. Most of you seem so much older 
than we English girls. You — you seem to be 
like fashionable young ladies almost, and you 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


21 


— you ’ll forgive me now — but I thought you 
were ” — laughing outright — “ the worst of any 
of them, you seemed so fine, you now. But 
when — when I found that you knew Bessy 
Pemberton — that you were old friends in Bos- 
ton — I knew that you must be a nice girl. 1 
mean my kind of a nice girl, that I could have 
a nice time with when I got better acquainted 
with you; and I — I should be very pleased to 
come to your party with Bessy, if Mamma says 
that I may. I have always wanted to go to a 
Christmas party in America.” 

The hot color was burning like fire in Julia’s 
face. She had been saved as by a miracle from 
that foolish explanation, — that bungling little 
lie by which she had tried even to humbug 
herself, — that Bessy did not expect, did not 
wish for, invitations. She had been saved from 
this, and — * Betty was coming to her party ! 
But oh, how small, how mean she felt! For 
underneath her vain little worldliness Julia had 
a heart, and a sense of justice and honor, and 
to stand there and receive this warmth of cor- 
diality because she was thought to be Bessy’s 
friend, — she who had been doing her best to 
treat Bessy in a most unfriendly manner, — was 
unbearable! And how she had blundered in 


22 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


her estimates of persons! She had supposed 
the Templetons would look down upon their 
governess’s daughter as a very inferior person. 
And they had found her more to their taste 
than any other American girl; and she, Julia 
Brown, had only reached Betty Templeton’s 
favor because she was “Bessy’s friend.” 

Poor Julia! as thought after thought rushed 
through her mind, her feeling of humiliation 
increased. In one way she had got her heart’s 
desire, — Betty was to be her guest; but as she 
parted from her at the end of the walk, it was 
with a miserable sense that she herself was a 
sneak and a hypocrite, whom Betty would 
justly despise if she knew the truth. That 
Jimmy had heard every word of the talk she 
knew quite well ; and though he was gentleman 
enough to make no comment then, she knew 
equally well that he could never keep silent 
with Clem. If it had been Amy, Amy would 
have spared her; but Jimmy could no more 
help telling Clem everything than he could 
help breathing, and by night — by night Clem 
would know the whole. Julia drew in her 
breath at the anticipation of Clem’s teasing 
jeers and sarcasms. She would be at his mercy 
now, without a single plea for herself. But 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


23 


night came, and the next day, and not a word 
did she hear. Had Jimmy kept silent? No; 
Jimmy had told the whole, not only of Betty’s 
talk, but of Julia’s reception of it. 

“Clem, Ju-ju was so red and ashamed, I 
pitied her. She looked as if you ’d knocked 
her down and stamped on her; and I think she 
is pretty well knocked down, don’t you? ” 

“Well, I should say so,” agreed Clem. 

“And Clem,” went on Jimmy, “we won’t 
say anything to her now, will we? We never 
do hit a fellow when he ’s down, you know.” 

And Clem agreed to this too, and another 
day went, and the next brought Christmas 
Eve. 

The house was all alight from top to bottom, 
and in the parlors and halls and up the stair- 
way was a perfect little forest of evergreen. 

“ Oh, how pretty ! ” whispered Betty Temple- 
ton to her friend Bessy, as they passed in be- 
tween rows of little fragrant spruce-trees. In 
the parlor she was still more delighted, for from 
the green arch over the door, with J ulia’s name 
and age spelled out in little pink asters, to the 
splendor of blossoms set against the fragrant 
green background to the left and the right of 
her, everything was novel to the young English 


24 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


girl. She knew all about English holly and 
mistletoe ; but this wild thick richness of spiky 
greenery, and the contrast of the great white 
chrysanthemums and pink and purple asters, 
with which the room was largely decorated, 
made an odd but charming picture to her. 
And in the midst of all this green and flowery 
splendor there stood the hostess in a white 
gown, as simply dressed as an English girl, — 
as herself, for instance, — and greeting her with 
a blushing, half-shy cordiality that put Betty 
at her ease at once. Bessy Pemberton, who 
came in for a share of this greeting, wondered 
a little at this queer air of shyness in Julia, — - 
Julia, whom she usually had seen so self-pos- 
sessed under all circumstances. But Clem and 
Jimmy and Amy, who were standing near by, 
watchfully observant, understood the matter 
better. At the first, Julia, full of her shame 
and vexation, was sure that she should have a 
horrid time at this party she had so anticipated ; 
and even Clem and Jimmy had agreed that 
they wished it was all over. “For Julia won’t 
be herself at all,” Jimmy had said early in the 
day, as he had seen his sister going about with 
a nervous, preoccupied manner; and Clem had 
responded, “Ju’ll be cranky and disagreeable 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


25 


for a certainty, and the whole thing ’ll be a 
failure, and nobody ’ll have a good time.” 

But they were all wrong. Everybody had 
the best of good times, from — yes, from Julia 
herself, who did n’t deserve it, you may say, 
down to little Popsy. Nobody could have been 
more astonished at having a good time than 
Julia. She had had a very bad time up to the 
very last moment, — that moment when she 
stood in the parlor awaiting her guests, and felt 
her cheeks burn as Bessy Pemberton came into 
the room. And then it was somehow from the 
instant that Bessy’s brown eyes met hers with 
a beaming pleasure, and Bessy’s voice said 
softly, “ Oh, everything looks so lovely, like a 
fairy palace, that it ’s lovely to be here, Ju-ju,” 
— then it was that Julia suddenly said to her- 
self that the least she could do to atone for 
what she could never confess to Bessy was to 
carry out this lovely seeming, and make Bessy 
and everybody have a lovely good time to cor- 
respond with it. Yes, this was the least that 
she could do. She had thought about herself 
enough, — herself and her own good time. Of 
course that was over now; there could be no 
good time for her. She had spoiled all that; 
but she could see to it that the rest, and Bessy 


26 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


especially, enjoyed themselves. And from this 
moment Ju-ju, for the time, was the pleasant- 
est, charmingest Ju-ju that any one had ever 
seen. She did n’t, as upon other occasions, in- 
sist upon her way, hut with a new-horn timidity 
followed rather than led, and let the others 
have their way. This was of itself so uncom- 
mon an experience that she presently enjoyed 
it; and by and by she was surprised to see how 
smoothly and merrily things were going, with- 
out a hitch, without a jar anywhere. 

It was at the very height of this merriment, 
when the big tree was being pulled of its 
Christmas fruit, each guest receiving a pretty 
box of bonbons with some comic little toy, that 
Julia happened to glance up from the Yankee 
puzzle she was explaining to Betty Templeton, 
and caught Clem and Jimmy regarding her 
with a look of curious interest. For a moment 
she forgot what she was saying to Betty in the 
thought of what Clem might be saying to 
Jimmy, for she was sure that Clem was criti- 
cising her in his usual sharp fashion, — was 
probably commenting sarcastically upon her at- 
tention to “that English girl.” If she only 
could have heard her brothers’ conversation! 
She might not have relished the whole of it; 


JU-JU'S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


27 


but she would not have found a jot or tittle of 
the usual sarcastic sharpness, for this is what 
the boys were saying to each other, — 

“After all, we’ve had a jolly good time, 
haven’t we, Clem?” 

“Well, we have,” answered Clem. 

“And, Clem,” went on Jimmy, “I never saw 
Ju-ju so nice before, did you? ” 

“No; and it just shows that Ju’s got it in 
her to be nice if she did n’t put on a lot of airs 
and strain after big folks. But I never saw 
her hold out so nice before, that ’s a fact. The 
first of the evening I thought we were going to 
have the meanest kind of a time.” 

“ So did I. Clem, girls are like boys a good 
deal, are n’t they? ” 

“ What do you mean ? ” 

“You know that little Fraser fellow on 
Massachusetts Avenue ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Well, don’t you know how sassy and uppish 
he was until Tom Peyton ‘ disciplined ’ him ? 
Ju-ju’s been disciplined.” Jimmy gave one of 
his little snickers here, remembering, as he did, 
Tom Peyton’s choice of words, and the kind of 
discipline that he had administered to “the 
little Fraser fellow.” Presently resuming more 


28 


JU-JU’S CHRISTMAS PARTY 


seriously, and carrying out the thread of his 
thought, “ I told you, Clem, that day after the 
walk, that Ju-ju looked as if she had been 
knocked down and stamped on.” 

If Ju-ju could have heard! 

But Ju-ju just then had forgotten even to 
wonder what the boys were talking about, for 
Betty Templeton and Bessy were bidding her 
good-night, were telling her what a beautiful 
time they had had, and were thanking her for 
it, and Bessy was saying, “I only hope you ’ve 
had half such a good time, Ju-ju,” when, like a 
flash, there came home to Julia the conviction 
that out of her bad time she had, after all, un- 
expectedly drawn a little plum of sweetness, — 
really a good time for herself out of the good 
time that she had made for the others. 


JENNY’S LAEK 


^"?ENNY sat in one corner of 
the great family sitting- 
room, bending her curly 
head over her slate, and 
trying very hard to keep her 
mind upon the long column 
of figures before her. But 
this was n’t very easy, when 
Frank and Charley and 
Grace and Alice, at the 
other end of the room, 
were laughing and talking ajid planning such 
delightful things. 

At their end of the room it was all so gay 
with gaslight and firelight and bright colors; 
for, it being a rainy evening, Grace and Alice 
had betaken themselves to the sitting-room to 
hurry on the making of their pretty new dresses 
which the dressmaker had left that afternoon. 
There was the pale blue silk for the blonde 
Grace, and the pink crepe, with all those white 



80 


JENNY’S LARIC 


puffs, for brunette Alice. No wonder Miss 
Jenny, over in her corner, was distracted and 
disturbed away from her column of figures by 
this fascinating brightness and dazzle. 

“Five and two are seven, and three are — 
eight, nine, ten,” she would say to herself, 
counting her fingers diligently in the effort to 
get it right; and just as she had got so far, 
perhaps, swish, swish, Grace’s scissors would 
go, cutting into the silk trimming, and Alice 
would hold up her beautiful robe, and make 
some exclamation about the party next week, 
when these beautiful fineries were to be 
worn. 

Grace and Alice were by no means little girls 
like Jenny. They were two grown-up young 
ladies, of sixteen and eighteen. Beautiful tall 
young ladies they were, whom Jenny — this 
little Jenny of eight — always thought of, 
though they were her sisters, as lovely prin- 
cesses, whenever they were made ready for a 
ball or party. 

She forgot for the moment her “five and two 
are seven, and three are ten,” to plunge into 
these usual fairy thoughts of hers, as Grace 
flung a sash of the blue silk over her shoulder, 
and cried, — 


JENNY’S LARK 


31 


u Oh, it ’s to be a perfect scene of enchant- 
ment! the rooms are to be decorated with 
flowers, and there is to be a hidden band of 
music ; and outside, the grounds are to be 
lighted up with colored lanterns ! ” 

At this, Jenny’s column of figures vanished 
completely, and in their stead she saw this 
scene of enchantment, with its lanterns and its 
flowers, and heard the mysterious music. She 
was recalled to reality very sharply by the drop- 
ping of her slate-pencil. Bang, snap, it went 
upon the floor, the beautiful long pencil she 
had bought that very evening. Oh, dear ! . it 
was too bad to have fairy vision and real treas- 
ure break in one breath. If Jenny did not 
give utterance to just this, she thought what 
amounted to the same thing, as her long-drawn 
sigh indicated. At that sigh Grace paused and 
looked across at her. 

“What is Jenny doing?” she asked of her 
brother. 

Doing’ her sums,” answered Frank, with 
a laugh. 

Those long rows of figures had no terrors 
for a young collegian. But Grace hadn’t for- 
gotten the days when she too had bent over 
her slate and found the long rows of figures 


32 


JENNY’S LARK 


very trying; so she said softly and entreat- 
ingly, — 

“ Go and help her, Frank, that ’s a good 
fellow.” 

And presently Jenny, who was counting her 
fingers over those fives and tens in a very dis- 
consolate manner, heard Frank’s cheery voice 
so close to her ear that she fairly jumped. 

Ah, it was another thing now. A minute 
ago Jenny had compared herself to Cinderella, 
sitting away in her corner, while the two beau- 
tiful sisters were preparing for the ball. Now, 
with Frank by her side, — Frank, who was like 
a young prince in her eyes, — she forgot all her 
Cinderella thoughts, and even the broken slate- 
pencil; and the fives and twos and threes added 
up like magic under Prince Frank’s eyes and 
in his helpful company. Like magic, and it 
did n’t seem a minute before the dreaded sums 
were all done, the slate put aside, and she was 
sitting in the midst of the lightness and dazzle, 
gathering up bits of blue silk and pink crepe 
and white lace for dolls’ dresses, and listen- 
ing to Grace and Alice’s talk, and Frank and 
Charley’s college stories. Kind, beautiful Grace 
was the fairy princess, and Frank the fairy prince 
who had wrought this magic change. 


JENNY’S LARK 


33 


You see we do not have to go back into the 
old days for the kind fairies who perform kind 
deeds ; we have them with us always, and when 
any need comes up, “they appear to us >vith 
the magic wands of sympathy and love, and 
straightway we are helped and cheered and 
comforted. 

Jenny did not reason this out in the manner 
that I have; but she felt quite satisfied and 
happy in the general result, which I am sure 
is all that any fairy, ancient or modern, ought 
to expect. Not the least part of Jenny’s hap- 
piness on this occasion consisted in the gay 
fancies and air-castles which thronged and built 
in her little brain, as Grace and Alice talked 
about the coming splendors. 

Oh, how she wished she could go too, — 
could just take one peep at such a fairy-land, 
and listen for a minute or two to the lovely 
music ! 

But what was that that Charley was saying? 

“It will only be a big party, that’s all; not 
half so jolly as a lark we fellows had last 
Monday. ” 

“A lark!” What in the world was that? 
What could it be that was nicer than Grace 
and Alice’s parties? 


3 


34 


JENNY'S LARK 


44 What is it, Charley ? What is 4 a lark ’ ? ” 
she asked, when there was pause enough in the 
chatter for her to wedge in a word. 

Charley laughed. 

“ A lark ? Oh, it ’s a sudden jolly time, got 
up in a minute, without any fuss, such as you 
girls make for your parties. We don’t stop for 
our ruffles and frills and furbelows,” laughing 
still more; “we go as we did the other night, 
when Jim Mason drove down with the old 
sorrel horse harnessed into the hay-cart. We 
did n’t take two minutes to think about it, but 
jumped right in and were off before you could 
say Jack Robinson. Didn’t we have a gay 
time, though! Went clear to Mason ville; and 
Jim got a lot of his acquaintances together, and 
we all went into the new barn and had a dance, 
and a feast of pie and doughnuts afterward. 
That ’s what I call a lark, Jen. Better ’n all 
the parties you ’ll ever go to.” 

“ There ’s something else that belongs to your 
4 lark ’ that’s not quite so nice,” broke out 
Grace here, in a tone that made Jenny look 
toward her curiously. She knew by this tone 
that there was something in the lark that Grace 
did n’t like. 

“Something else, not quite so nice as the 


JENNY’S LARK 


35 


ride and the dance and the pie and the dough- 
nuts,” Grace concluded. 

“ Go ahead ! A girl always has to bring in 
the moral, and top off with a lecture, ” cried out 
Master Charley. 

“No, I sha’n’t go ahead,” returned Grace, 
coolly; “but I see you know what I mean.” 

“Oh, what is it?” eagerly asked Jenny. 
“ Did he fall out of the wagon ; did the dough- 
nuts make him sick? ” 

Charley shouted, and even Grace joined in 
the general merriment at this. 

“No, Jen, I didn’t fall out of the wagon, 
and I did n’t come to grief with the doughnuts. 
I ’ll tell you what Grace means,” began Char- 
ley, as soon as he could speak. “She means 
that I was a naughty boy ; that I went off with- 
out saying a word to anybody, and stayed so 
late that Father and Mother were frightened 
and thought I was drowned. Grace says I was 
selfish and all that sort of thing, because I went 
off in a hurry and forgot to tell anybody I was 
going. She says that spoiled the lark, to her 
mind. And now you have Madame Grace’s 
sermon all cut and dried.” 

“Well, I do think thoughtlessness like that, 
forgetting other people’s comfort entirely, is 


36 


JENNY’S LARK 


the worst kind of selfishness. I don’t see how 
boys can go on so heedlessly. I ’m sure girls 
would never think of taking matters into their 
own hands, and going against rules and orders 
like that! ” said Grace very seriously. 

“ Oh, well, girls are girls, and boys are boys,” 
was Charley’s only reply to this. 

He seemed to think he had settled the ques- 
tion by this remark; but here Alice, who was a 
lark herself, she was so merry and bright, came 
out with, — 

“ Oh, you need n’t talk in that grand way, as 
if you thought it was an evidence of smartness 
and superiority for boys to go and do disagree- 
able, selfish things, that set everybody by the 
ears. It may be roguish, but it is n’t manly 
roguishness. It ’s the worst part of a boy, not 
his best part. Guess you would n’t like it bet- 
ter ’n anybody, Master Charley. How you felt 
when you lost your little ugly rat terrier for 
two days! My! the house could n’t hold you. 
And once I saw you mopping your face with 
your pocket-handkerchief , as if your eyes troubled 
you! Now, s’posin’ you ’d been a man, and it 
had been your little boy, instead of your little 
pug-nosed, flat-faced terrier, how ’d you have 
felt then?” 


JEN NTS LARK 


37 


“Well, I ain’t a man, and I haven’t any 
little boy, so I can’t decide. But as I have got 
the handsomest Scotch terrier there is anywhere 
about, I do object to his being abused and called 
names,” responded Charley, with that easy 
good-humor which not even his own ill-doings 
and Alice’s glib tongue could upset. They all 
laughed at this cool and easy turning off ; and 
then the evening came to a close, for Jenny at 
least, for suddenly Grace caught her winking 
very hard, and cried out, 

“ What are we thinking of ? Why, it ’s 
more than an hour past that child’s bedtime! ” 
And the next thing, Jenny was whisked off 
in Grace’s arms ; and the next thing after that 
she was fast asleep, and dreaming, perhaps, of 
the fairy princess in the beautiful, lighted gar- 
den, or perhaps of Charley’s lark, when he 
danced in the barn, and feasted on pies and 
doughnuts. But the princesses, I am sure, 
were uppermost, and, sleeping or waking, for 
the next few days her small head was full of 
them. The weather, however, soon became the 
great subject of anxiety, for, June though it 
was, the evening damps and fogs had been so 
chill that fires had to be kindled on the hearths 
and in the grates at morning and nightfall. 


38 


JENNY’S LARK 


“ What ’ll become of all those fine lanterns 
if it rains ? ” Charley would ask, rather aggra- 
vatingly. 

“But it won’t rain, — I am sure it won’t; so 
you may just spare your croak,” Alice would 
reply, very decidedly. 

And it did n’t rain. There was not even a 
fog to veil the brightness of that lovely June 
twilight. It was a wedding-party, so the 
guests were bidden early; and Jenny had the 
pleasure of seeing the princesses don all their 
finery and drive away in state. 

All the neighborhood seemed to be going, 
too; and over the fences and the gates the 
maid-servants talked to one another about it. 
Jenny watched the whirl of the carriages until 
she was tired, and then she began to notice the 
little groups of people on foot who were hurry- 
ing by on the plank walk. 

“Where are you going?” she called out to 
an acquaintance, a girl two or three years older 
than herself. 

“To see the lighted gardens and to hear the 
music,” was the answer. 

So, then, all these people were going to that 
scene of enchantment; and they were not bid- 
den any more than she! 


JENNY’S LARK 


39 


Away went Jenny, with a new thought, in 
search of Mary Malony, the nurse-maid; but 
Mary was oft* with Bridget, the cook. They 
were following the fashion of their neighbors 
in chatting over somebody’s doorway. 

“Oh dear, what shall I do?” sighed Jenny. 

She wandered through the deserted house, 
for even Papa and Mamma had gone to the 
wedding. All at once she came upon Nicholas, 
the coachman, mending his carriage harness. 

“Oh, Nicholas, dear, good Nicholas, go up 
on the bluff with me to see the lighted gardens 
and hear the music ! ” she cried out breathlessly. 

Nicholas stopped a minute, and looked at the 
little flushed, eager face. “I dan’t, Missy,” he 
said, as if he were very sorry for her sake that 
he couldn’t; “it’ll take me all the time till I 
have to go up and fetch the rest of ’em, to 
mend this. I like to got throwed out cornin’ 
back, all along o’ this break in the strap.” 

“Oh, what shall I do?” sighed Jenny again. 
As if to answer her question, there, across the 
way, hanging over her gate, was Nelly Slade. 
In a minute more the children were consult- 
ing together, and in a minute more again they 
were hurrying up the plank walk in the beauti- 
ful June moonlight. 


40 


JENNY’S LARK 


“I must get back before Mother does,” said 
Nelly, anxiously, on the way. 

“Why?” 

“‘Why?’ well, because she’d be worried, 
you know, and would n’t like my going out so 
late with another little girl.” 

Then for the first time our Jenny began to 
think what she was about. She had forgotten 
everything before but her own pleasure ; and in 
a moment she bethought herself of Charley. 
That was just what he did in his lark, — it was 
the wrong part of his lark, Grace had said. 
But she could n’t turn back now, for oh! there 
shone the lovely gold and red and green and 
purple lights, and oh! there sounded the beau- 
tiful music. 

What mortal little girl but would have for- 
gotten everything else in such delights? 

There was a crowd of people already in the 
grounds, — the unbidden guests who, one by 
one and two by two, had been led on by the 
alluring stories of the lighted gardens and the 
music, to see what they could see, and hear 
what they could hear. 

What a scene it was to such fairy-loving eyes 
as Jenny’s! — those great bubbles of colored 
flame, like brilliant flowers of the night, sway- 


JENNY’S LARK 


41 


in g and winking from the trees, and lighting 
up every bank and bower. 

“ Oh, is n’t it just like a story, Nelly, ex- 
actly? And oh, hear the music! But I want 
to see the princess, don’t you?” 

“ What princess ? ” asked matter-of-fact Nelly, 
looking at Jenny as if she thought she had sud* 
denly taken leave of her senses. 

Jenny laughed. 

“ Oh, I meant the bride, you know. I always 
call her the Princess May, because she is just 
like the Princess May in the story-book I lent 
you; she is so beautiful, with all those curls the 
color of a gold ring, and her shining eyes and 
her pretty smile. But oh, come here, come 
here, Nelly! let’s climb up on this arbor, and 
we can look straight in at the window ! ” 

Up they went, with many a scramble and a 
scratch. But what did Jenny care for that 
when she was to be rewarded with a sight of 
her Princess May? Up they went, and alighted 
like two little birds at last upon the top of a 
low arbor, from which perch they had a full 
view of the interior of the drawing-room, — a 
full view of Papa and Mamma and Grace and 
Alice, and the beautiful Princess May, as she 
stood receiving the congratulations of her 


42 


JENNY'S LARK 


guests ; a full view of the great room, with all 
the pictures and the doorways framed in with 
flowers and drooping vines ; a full view of the 
great throng of people, moving hither and 
thither, and looking, in their brilliant colors, 
like a parterre of flowers swept by a summer 
wind. And the mysterious band of music sent 
forth its sweet, gay strains; violins and flutes 
and drums tinkling and playing and beating, 
till Jenny was wild with excitement. 

Sitting there upon her perch she quite forgot 
the time, — that it was growing later and later 
every minute, and that the early moon had 
slipped away and left everything outside of the 
garden illuminations dark as dark could be. 
She forgot all these things, and how she was 
to get home, until somebody came to one of the 
windows and cried out, — 

“ Oh, what a crowd of people ! Why, it ’s a 
regular invasion! ” 

It was like the clock striking twelve in the 
old Cinderella legend, for suddenly everything 
was over to our little modern Cinderella; for, 
following the tones of that voice, came another 
voice from the lawn, addressing the people and 
begging them to disperse, as their occupation 
of the grounds interfered with the enjoyment 



“Sitting there upon her perch she quite forgot the time.” — Page Ifi 







JENNY’S LARK 


43 


of the invited guests. This voice sounded very 
familiar to Jenny. It sounded just like her 
father’s. She stretched forward. She stood 
tiptoe, and as one of the lanterns, a great blue 
bell of flame, swung out, she saw a face as 
familiar as the voice. Her father, as sure as 
the world! 

“Run, Jenny, or your father will see you,” 
said one of the girls beside her. 

“Run! I guess I sha’n’t,” retorted Jenny, 
indignantly; “it ’s mean to run.” 

And so, instead of running, Jenny jumps up 
and calls out, — 

“Oh, Papa! Papa!” 

Mr. Raymond came towards her in amaze- 
ment. 

“Why, Jenny, what does this mean? How 
came you here?” he asked in a grave, dis- 
pleased tone. 

“Oh, everybody was coming, Papa, and the 
house was all alone ’cept Nicholas, and Nicho- 
las couldn’t come, so I come up with Nelly 
Slade and lots of other people.” 

“But, Jenny, you had no right to come up 
here uninvited and without permission, and at 
such an hour, too. Don’t you know you ’ve 
done very wrong? Here,” without waiting for 


44 


JENNY'S LARK 


Jenny to answer, “ jump in here, — now, Nich- 
olas,” as the two children obeyed him and 
clambered into the carriage which had just 
rolled up the avenue, “take these children 
home as soon as possible.” 

“ To think of your taking that walk with only 
Nelly Slade at nine o’clock in the evening,” 
said Grace at the breakfast-table next morning. 
“What did you do so for, Jenny?” 

“A lark,” answered Jenny, looking suddenly 
across at Charley. 

Charley shouted. 

“Well, it was a real out-and-out lark, I 
must say; and now you’ll never have to ask 
me for another explanation of one, Miss 
Jem” 

“Yes; but Jenny isn’t going to make the 
mistake of forgetting to wait for permission on 
another lark, is she?” asked Grace, who was 
rather mortified at the turn of affairs. 

“Not if I can remember,” answered Jenny, 
innocently. 

And at this the whole family joined in Char- 
ley’s shout of laughter. 

Out of this laughter Papa turned with a 
bright look toward his youngest daughter and 
said, — 


JENNY’S LARK 


45 


“There is one thing I can trust Jenny for, — 
she ’ll own up to her lark, whatever it may be. 
There ’s no sneak about her. She won’t wait 
to be found out, and then hide behind some- 
body else. That ’$ proved, anyway.” 


SALLY GREEN’S CLAM-BAKE 
PARTY 


HEN Sally Green came 
home from school three 
years ago, she brought 
with her a good many 
of the fancies and ideas 
that girls are very apt 
to bring from board- 
ing school. Her father called them “foolish 
notions; ” but at the same time he did n’t “put 
his foot down ” very hard upon them, and 
allowed Sally to have “her swing,” as Sally’s 
brother Tom declared, without much protest. 

But by and by Sally proposed something that 
brought the foot down very emphatically. This 
was a party, — a fashionable party, with Reed’s 
quadrille band to be sent from the city, and all 
the other adjuncts of hothouse flowers, elabo- 
rate supper, and no end of German favors. 

“It’s of no use, Sally,” Mr. Green replied 
to this plan. “In the first place, I can’t afford 
such parties; and I don’t approve of them any- 



SALLY GREEN’S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 47 


way. Then I don’t bring your mother down 
here to have such dissipated doings. She needs 
rest, Miss Sally, if you don’t.” 

“ But, Papa, if I might only — ” 

“No use, Sally; I know all your argument. 
You ’ll take all the trouble, and all that. But 
if I liked it as well as you do, I could n’t have 
it. I have n’t five hundred dollars, Sally, to 
spend for amusement.” 

“Five hundred dollars! Papa Green, what 
are you thinking of?” 

Papa Green jotted down on the back of a 
letter a detail of hard facts, — a list of the lux- 
uries which go to make up a fashionable party, 
and handed it over to Sally. Sally ran her eye 
over these items, and the big figures attached, 
and still looked incredulous; but Tom, coming 
in just then, — Tom, who was always ready for 
any frolic, — declared at once, upon examining 
the big figures, that of course you couldn’t get 
up such a swell party for less than five hun- 
dred dollars. 

“ Why, the party our class gave last year cost 
every cent of four hundred and fifty dollars; 
and we had a very poor show of flowers at that, 
Sally.” 

Sally knew then that her swell party must 


48 SALLY GREEN’S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 


go under. The facts were too much for the 
fancy. 

“Any small, unpretentious gathering, Sally, 
I ’m perfectly willing you should have.” 

But Sally, remembering the visions she had 
conjured up of a forest of flowers and a quad- 
rille hand, did not receive this proposition of 
her father’s with rapture, by any means. 

One of Sally’s “foolish notions ” was that her 
father must be a rich man, because last year he 
had bought a prett}^ summer residence on the 
Narragansett Bay shore. Sally could n’t under- 
stand that it was a matter of economy, — that 
it costs less to live in this manner under one’s 
own vine and fig-tree (especially where the vine 
and fig-tree meant a productive vegetable- 
garden) than it does to take the needed summer 
change of air and scene junketing about at 
boarding-houses and hotels, where the rooms 
and the prices are of the most elevated descrip- 
tion. Sally had always associated the grand 
sound of “summer residence” with a villa at 
Newport or a cottage at Long Branch. When 
she first saw the pretty, inexpensive house her 
father had purchased, the airy piazzas, the little 
filigree wood-work here and there, and the 
swinging pots of flowers at once suggested to 


SALLY GREEN'S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 49 


Sally an immense idea of future possibilities as 
to entertainments, —garden parties and all that. 

To Sally’s inexperienced eye, the showy fili- 
gree-work, the airy piazzas, the airy rooms, 
the swinging pots of flowers, were all sugges- 
tive of Newport magnificences. And here was 
her first attempt at putting this suggestion into 
practical effect nipped in the bud. The shadow 
of disappointment was on her face for a whole 
day. It might have lingered still longer but 
for Tom’s brilliant idea. 

He came home that very night, and flung it 
like a gay little sky-rocket at Sally’s feet. 
And Sally jumped at it a good deal as she 
might if it had been an actual rocket. 

“Sally, I’ll tell you what you can do,” he 
said. “You can have a clam-bake party. It ’s 
just the thing on this shore. Gentlemen are 
constantly giving them from the shore club- 
houses, and I don’t see why a lady should n’t 
lead the way in one. Nicholas ” — Nicholas 
was the “hired man,” a Rhode Islander, who 
had dug clams, and assisted in that great Rhode 
Island specialty, clam-baking, since he put on 
his first pair of boots — “Nicholas and one of 
his forty brothers will get it all up for you, and 
you can slip in the feminine fine-art touches, 

4 


50 SALLY GREEN'S CLAM-BAKE PARTI 


and so make a unique affair of it that will beat 
the man-parties out and out.” 

Sally forgot she was a proper young woman 
of seventeen as she jumped up from her chair 
and whirled Tom about in a wild waltz. 

“ Tom, you ’re a love ! ” she cried, as soon as 
she caught her breath. “I ’ll just make the 
prettiest, the most original party in the world. 
My 4 prophetic soul ’ paints it now, in a vivid 
picture. I shall send out invitations written 
on tinted paper, with a clam-shell sketched in 
monogram. A day -party, too! everybody can 
come and go by boat from the city if they wish, 
and the carriage-comers can take their own time. 
Oh, Tom, Tom! you’ve saved my life. Al- 
ready disappointment was ‘ preying like a 
worm i’ the bud upon my damask cheek ! ’ ” 

And with this gay travesty Sally fled to her 
mother to arrange other details. 

“ You can send out as many invitations as you 
care to write, Sally,” said her father, pleas- 
antly, when the project was laid before him. 
“An out-door party, as simple as a clam-bake 
party must be, does n’t involve much expense.” 

So Sally set herself at work over those unique 
invitations. Her pen flew, and the result was 
most artistic, for Sally’s sole accomplishment, 


SALLY GREEN'S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 51 


or talent, was this gift of sketching. Then her 
father got so interested he lent a hand, and 
helped Nicholas Beane and “one of his forty 
brothers ” to put up two or three long tables on 
the grass-plat at the west of the house. And 
over this pretty awnings were stretched; and 
Sally rummaged the neighborhood for flowers 
and vines to decorate both awnings and tables. 

The day of the party turned out to he all that 
a day should be, clear and sunny, with a brisk 
breeze; and at the early hour specified in the 
invitations, the guests began to arrive, most of 
them coming by some one of the numerous 
boats that ply up and down the river and bay. 

There were half a dozen of Sally’s recent 
school-mates who came up from Newport, — 
Boston girls, who were in a great glee and 
curiosity over what they had heard so much of 
in Rhode Island. You see it was their first 
season at Newport, and they had not as yet 
been up to famous Rocky Point to a clam-bake. 

But Sally drew in her breath when she saw 
that Milly Warde had her cousin Winthrop 
Warde with her, a Harvard student, who had 
the reputation of being very fastidious and very 
satirical. She had uncomfortable recollections 
of overhearing him call her “little Rhode Is- 


52 SALLY GREEN’S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 


land ” in a quizzical way once, and very likely 
he would make fun of her Rhode Island party 
when he went back to Newport. 

“Well, let him,” said Sally, with sudden 
spirit, to herself. 

“Win would come. He said he was sure 
you ’d invite him if you had known he was 
visiting us,” was Milly Warde’s introductoiy, 
and Sally smiled and made the usual cordial 
response. 

But she did n’t at all like the way in which 
this elegant gentleman walked about, with that 
amused look in his eyes, and the tone in which 
he would say, as he regarded the tables, the 
awnings, etc., “Oh, very pretty! Yes, very 
pretty, — very neat.” 

If Sally had read Mr. Howells’ “Chance 
Acquaintance ” she would have called Mr. 
Winthrop Warde “Mr. Arbuton,” in all prob- 
ability, though it is doubtful if Mr. Arbuton 
would have condescended to amusement. 

But Sally was fated to Conquer everything on 
this day, not only her own annoyance, but the 
quizzical spirit of this formidable Mr. Warde. 
Turning to him suddenly in the midst of his 
rather patronizing remarks, she said with cool 
dignity, “If this is your first clam-bake, Mr. 


















































































































































' • 








SALLY GREEN’S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 53 


Warde, I suppose you would like to go down 
and see the manner in which it is prepared. I 
believe it is considered quite a curious sight by 
strangers.” 

Mr. Warde assenting to this proposition, 
Sally led the way down the terrace steps to the 
back of the house, where Nicholas Beane and 
“ one of his forty brothers ” were preparing the 
“bake.” They had already got the little oven 
of stones, which is simply a hollow space like 
a great bowl, built up; and the fire kindled 
within it was burning by this time to ashes. 

“We will come under this tree, out of the 
sun, and wait a few moments, Mr. Warde, 
when you will see the whole operation,” re- 
marked Sally, politely. 

The tables seemed to be turned, and it was 
Sally now who was patronizing. Mr. Warde 
followed meekly at Sally’s bidding, and waited 
the specified few moments, when, the fire re- 
duced sufficiently, Nicholas Beane swept the 
little stone oven, or cairn, clear of ashes, and 
then Hung in great heaps of freshly dug clams, 
until the oven was completely blled. Over 
this a great pile of sea-weed was packed, and 
this covered at last with a rubber blanket. 
The fresh air, the smell of the fire, and the 


54 SALLY GREEN'S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 


sea-weed, produced an out-door suggestiveness 
of freedom, a flavor of wild wood life, so entirely 
apart from the conventionalisms of society that 
Sally forgot every other atmosphere for the 
time, forgot she was on the defensive, as it 
were, with the elegant Mr. W arde, — forgot, 
indeed, that there was any elegant Mr. Warde, 
so heartily did she enter into the spirit of 
Nature. 

In the mean time the guests were arriving 
in great force; and Sally, here and there and 
everywhere, was the very embodiment of a real 
girl, — what Mrs. Whitney would most emphat- 
ically have pronounced one of her “real folks.” 
Her father, observing all this, thought that 
Sally was getting over her foolish notions, — 
thought that if she was his daughter, he might 
call her a very charming young woman. 

And somebody else, observing all this, was 
not very far from making the same conclusion; 
somebody else, whom Sally had feared, as too 
fine and fashionable — but I am not going to 
anticipate. I ’m not going to tell here all that 
this fine Mr. Warde thought and said of Sally. 
I am just going to tell now how they all trooped 
down to the great cairn covered with sea- weed 
and a rubber blanket, and watched Nicholas 


SALLY GREEN’S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 55 


Beane uncover his treasures, smoking and 
savory and ready for the table. 

In old days, say twenty years and more ago, 
it was quite en regie to cluster about in the 
most rural picnic fashion upon the grass, 
and be served thus with the smoking clams; 
but in these days, even if the out-door tables 
are not so rural, they are certainly more 
comfortable. 

Sitting under the festooned awnings, the 
guests at Sally’s tables wore upon their faces 
not only a look of comfort, but of something 
beyond the mere physical content; they were 
entering into the sweet out-door atmosphere, — 
the atmosphere of fields and woods and freedom. 
They did not miss the band of music here, for 
over their heads hundreds and hundreds of 
small musicians were on the wing, exchanging 
their sweetest notes. 

“ I never saw such a happy party,” said some- 
body at Sally’s right hand. 

Sally looked up in surprise, for the somebody 
was Mr. Warde. In that moment she remem- 
bered all the beginning of his visit, which had 
slipped her mind. 

“Oh, Mr. Warde!” 

“Yes, I know, Miss Sally, at the first you 


L.ofC. 


56 SALLY GREEN’S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 


thought I was very disagreeable and super- 
cilious, and — and — ” 

“Making fun! Yes, I did!” cried Sally, 
impetuously. 

A great, honest blush sprang to Mr. Warde’s 
face. “No, it was n’t exactly that, Miss Sally; 
but I thought, when Milly showed me that very 
pretty card of invitation, that it was to be one 
of those affected, swell affairs, you know, — a 
garden-party, with a lot of fine clothes all out 
of place, and a band of music, and the rest of 
it. I was rather staggered when I met you in 
this simple white dress, and — and — well, I 
went on being staggered in all my preconceived 
notions; and now I think it is the prettiest 
party and the most enjoyable that I ever at- 
tended, and I do hope you ’ll forgive me, Miss 
Sally.” 

Quite humbly this was said, in Sally’s ear. 
Sally laughed. 

“Oh, Mr. Warde, it is so funny, the whole 
of it. I did want the big party, half a garden- 
party and half an evening party, with a German, 
and a quadrille band, and hot-house flowers, 
and no end of fine things. But Papa could n’t 
afford it, and Tom saved my life ” — here Sally 
dimpled again — “ by proposing a clam-bake ; 


SALLY GREEN'S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 57 


and I made it as pretty as I could without 
spoiling its simplicity. And when you came 
I thought you were making fun of the very 
simplicity, for I thought you were a — a — ” 

“A disagreeable swell myself; it’s only fair 
I should help you out as you helped me, Miss 
Sally ; ” and then they both laughed as only 
people can laugh out of doors under the blue 
sky. 

It was after this that Sally began to teach 
Mr. Warde to eat clams, that extremely comical 
and extremely difficult — as far as deftness and 
grace is concerned — accomplishment, which 
yearly affords the Rhode Islander, to the man- 
ner born, such infinite jest and amusement. It 
is a good deal on the Jack Horner principle, 
— Jack “put in his thumb and pulled out a 
plum.” And so the Rhode Islander turns back 
the already loosened shell, and takes delicately 
with the thumb and finger, his plum; to wit, 
the succulent clam. But no written or verbal 
description can convey to the novice any idea of 
this part of the programme. All the curious, 
who seek knowledge in this direction, must make 
it a personal experience, as Mr. Warde did. 
And they must be sure to take their first lesson 
from some charming girl like Sally Green. 


58 SALLY GREEN'S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 


But a clam -bake doesn’t mean only a feast 
of clams. After the clams comes the chowder, 
and after the chowder, at Sally’s party, came 
in what Tom called the fine arts, — the coffee, 
and a little dessert of cakes and strawberries, 
for it was in June, and strawberries were in 
their plentiful season. 

And the result of all this was such a success, 
such a unique union of out-door unpretentious- 
ness with taste and beauty that, from that day 
to this, ladies on the Rhode Island shore have 
vied with one another in modelling their sum- 
mer gatherings upon Sally Green’s clam-bake 
party. 

And Sally dates a great deal of happiness, 
that came to her afterward, from this very 
party. The other day I heard her saying to a 
young friend of hers, who was fretting about 
the hard times, and moaning and lamenting be- 
cause she could n’t indulge in a great, gay party 
such as she had been allowed to give in the 
“better times,” — 

“ My dear, it ’s all stuff about big parties that 
follow in the beaten track of fashion, — these 
swell efforts that cost no end of money. People 
don’t like you a bit better for them ; and they 
don’t have half so good a time as at the simple, 


SALLY GREEN'S CLAM-BAKE PARTY 59 


informal parties. I know, for I thought just 
as you do, once, and was miserable because my 
father could n’t afford to let me give one of 
these five-hundred-dollar affairs. But when I 
came to try another thing, — the simplest sort 
of thing, a clam-bake that cost just nothing to 
speak of, — I learned a lesson, for I found out 
that people don’t like beaten tracks, and that 
they respect you for going out of them, in such 
matters as these, ten times as much as for your 
staying in them when you can’t afford it. I 
know that I made friends I should never have 
made if I had followed the beaten track; ” and 
Sally smiled a little soft smile, and blushed a 
little tender blush at her own words, and all 
the memories they brought up to her. 


THE END 




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